4-Boxing Has Its Perks
by Guardian Alpha
Summary: Dren Brent is a normal teenage boy with an obsession for Computers and Computer Games, after buying the critically acclaimed game "Sword Art Online (SAO)" He's caught up in the game's madness, will he be able to survive?
1. Logging In

4-Boxing Has Its Perks  
Chapter 1: Logging on

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Dren, Hiro, Shiro, Thiro, and Iro

It was a normally sunny day in the city of Tokyo, nothing could go wrong. Walking down the street was a young man wearing a black shirt, pants, and shoes, on top of this he wore a brown leather jacket, his jet black hair was styled into anime spikes coming down on his forehead he was carrying an armload of equipment and four game cases that read 'Sword Art Online'. Today was the released of the game, it was supposedly going to be the best game ever made and Dren had pre-ordered four copies of it and purchased four nerve-gears so he could 4-box* like he always did.  
***For those of you unfamiliar with game terminology boxing is when 1 person controls multiple characters at the same time, if they're really good, it may seem like each character is a different person. 4-boxing is the term used to describe someone who uses 4 characters.**

Eventually he arrived at his house; making his way upstairs to his room he kicked the door open with his foot.

"Finally." He said as he set the armload down on his bed. "Let's get started."

He produced a small screwdriver from his jacket pocket and began to unscrew the nerve-gears, eventually he had his bed covered in wires, nuts, bolts, and screws. Linking the nerve-gears together he grinned as he plugged in and it powered up, displaying four screens, each taking up a quarter of what was supposed to be the main screen.

"Now that that works, it's time to get started." He said as he opened four disk trays on his computer nearby. Four monitors had been set up, each linked to a different tower. He inserted his four Sword Art Online disks and closed the trays, the screens each lit up with an assortment of windows as the installation process began. Dren waited a few moments before the computers beeped signaling the termination of the process, each brought up the home page of Sword Art Online and he smiled to himself as he put on his nerve gear. Lying down on his bed he stated the activation code.

"Link Start!"

A multicolored flash of light appeared on all four screens; soon he appeared in a large anteroom. Four copies of himself appeared and they grinned at each other.

"Success!" They called at once.

Soon the game took over and outfitted each character with basic starting equipment. One of the Dren's was equipped with a red shirt/chest-plate another with a blue shirt/chest-plate, the third a yellow shirt/chest-plate, and the fourth a green shirt/chest-plate. Each had a short-sword strapped to his waist.

**A/N: Think of what Kirito started with, only change the color of the shirt piece that was under the armor.**

Each Dren looked himself over before nodding; waving their left hands they opened the customization window. The red Dren scrolled through until he found a design he liked, selecting it his body changed as his hair turned white and was bound in a small samurai ponytail. Blue Dren selected a short-cropped hair style, yellow Dren picked a calm-devout look to his hair and green Dren choose a sleek look that made him look suspicious.

Once their hairstyles had been selected another screen popped up asking for a name. Red Dren entered Hiro, Blue typed Shiro, Green Thiro, and Yellow Iro.

"Character creation complete, prepare to enter Aincrad." A game voice said

The group looked at each other before a light appeared in the shape of a doorway. They walked toward it entering the world of Sword Art Online.

When the light faded the group was standing in the square of a town, all around them they saw NPC's and players. The players were discussing the game and giving tips; the NPC's were going about their jobs or advertising their goods.

"Alright." Hiro said turning to the others. "Check starting gold."

**A/N: Sorry for so many of these, I assume that in Virtual Reality RPG most boxing players might talk to their characters to keep up the ruse that they're boxing, at least some of the younger ones like Dren who like to play it that they're 4 different people.**

The group swung their hands through the air opening their inventory menu. Each stated he had 150 gold. They closed the menus with a swipe before looking around.

"I wonder where the armor and weapon shops are." Hiro asked

"Over here." A voice called to them

The group turned to see a red clad-man and a black-clad teenager, the red-armor man was waving to them.

They turned and walked through the crowded street toward the pair.

"Hello, who are you?" Hiro asked

"I'm Klein" The man said with a grin, putting a thumb to his chest, he had long red hair that came down to his neck and a red and yellow striped headband.

"And him?" Shiro asked nodding toward the youth behind him

Klein looked back at him, and when nothing was said, nudged him.

"I'm Kirito." The youth replied stubbornly, he had long black hair and stern looking eyes.

The group introduced themselves. "This is the weapon shop?" Thiro asked

"It is." Klein replied

"The cheapest weapons in the game are sold here, perfect if you don't want to have to use the short-sword you're given to start." Kirito explained

"Must've done your research." Hiro said jokingly

"No, I was a Beta-Tester for the game."

The four clones widened their eyes at this. "Really?"

Kirito nodded "If you'll excuse us we've got training to do."

Klein nodded. "Keep in touch." He said as Kirito led him through the crowd

Hiro looked the group over. "Alright." He pointed at himself "Warrior" Then at Shiro "Wizard" then at Thiro "Thief" and finally at Iro "Cleric"

They nodded "Go get your equipment"

Hiro stepped into the weapon shop first, seeing a wide-variety of weapons on display he walked up to the NPC's shopkeeper and asked for a broad-sword.

The shopkeeper produced a plain, generic broad-sword, stating it was a 1 or 2 handed weapon, good for slicing through armor, but not as good as great-sword. Hiro bought it for 25 gold pieces. He left the shop with the broad-sword strapped across his back. He stepped into the armor shop next and asked around until he found a suit of chain-plate armor. He dyed it red and set off, the chain clinking against the outer-plate of his armor.

He sat down at the fountain in the center of the town and waited. Soon Shiro appeared; he was using a quarter-staff as a walking stick and was wearing a long blue robe.

"Apparently there isn't magic in this game, it's been replaced with a thing called sword skills which players attain through quests or level up."

"Oh, well that kind of sets things back a little." Hiro stated

Thiro appeared next, he was wearing a green leather jerkin and a green half-face mask that was bound around his mouth, on his waist were two daggers.

"You can dual-wield in this game?" Hiro asked

"No, daggers are all off-handed in this game, and according to the game manual any offhanded weapon can be equipped into the main hand slot, and since it was designed as offhand this doesn't interfere with you using it in main hand."

Iro was the last to appear, wearing a suit of armor like Hiro's, only dyed yellow, he was hefting a large war-hammer.

"It turns out there's no magic in this game"

"We already know." Hiro stated

"But I did find these." He said handing them each two red healing crystals. "I found a few group healing crystals as well." He said holding up two purple colored crystals

"Excellent, looks like we're ready to set off." Hiro said

A bell rang in the town and they looked up to see it was late afternoon.

"Strange, it was noon when we got here. We can't have taken that long to gather equipment."

Immediately they were all warped to the town square. There they noticed that all the other players in the game were there as well.

"What is this?" Hiro asked

"Hiro!" Klein's voice called to them

"Klein! Kirito!" Hiro called, spotting them in the crowd.

They regrouped and they asked Kirito for information.

"I don't know this didn't happen in the Beta." Kirito said

"Maybe it's an opening day thing?" Klein suggested

"Maybe." Kirito said ominously

Their questions were answered as a large figure appeared in the sky above them.

"Hello and welcome. SAO players." The figure called to them slowly "Some of you have probably noticed by now that the main menu lacks the log-out button… this isn't a bug in the game."

The crowd gasped "I repeat this isn't a bug in the game. It is a feature."

"A-a feature?" Klein asked

"I've also taken the liberty of adding an item to your item storage, if you could please activate it now."

Hiro opened his inventory along with his clones, they found an item labeled 'mirror'

"What is this?" Hiro asked as he summoned it.

Klein began to yell and the group looked over to see him be engulfed in a blue light, these began popping up all over the place until the entire plaza was alight. When the light stopped the group looked around to see complete strangers everywhere.

"What the?" Hiro asked

"Who are you?" Klein asked him

Hiro looked up to see someone who looked similar to Klein "Who are you?" Hiro asked

Somewhere nearby people began to shout about appearances changing and the group figured it out.

"This is what I look like in real life." Hiro said looking in the mirror

"Hiro… there-there are four of you!" Klein shouted

Hiro turned to see Shiro, Thiro, and Iro had reverted to their original statuses as well.

"Why would anyone do this?" Klein asked

"I bet he'll tell us in a minute" Kirito said pointing to the floating stranger.

The figure revealed himself to be Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of the Nerve gear and Sword Art Online. He told the players that if anyone in the real world attempted to remove their Nerve gear the headset would release a microwave that would fry the player's brain, killing them in Real Life, and if their HP dropped to 0 then the same result would occur. The only way to escape would be to clear all 100 floors.

Soon after he disappeared, a moment went by before the plaza erupted into pandemonium. Kirito led Klein and Dren's clones out of the plaza.

"What's going on?" Hiro asked

"I don't know, but I know that we'll need to move to the next town. Now." Kirito explained

"What, why?"

"You heard Kayaba, we'll need to grow stronger if we're to beat the game, and if we stay here we'll be competing with the other players for gold, experience, and items. The resources in this game are limited." Kirito explained "If we rush on ahead, we'll be the first to get the money and experience from the other quests."

"Kirito… I can't, I waited in line for ten hours with my friends from another game." Klein said "They're still out there in the plaza."

Kirito sighed. "I can't take all four of you Hiro, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, I'll handle myself, though I have a favor to ask, please don't tell anyone about my 4-boxing. I don't want anyone to claim I'm a cheater."

Kirito and Klein nodded before Klein turned to leave, as did Kirito, but Klein turned back around "Kirito!"

Kirito stopped, turning slightly. Klein was silent and Kirito went to leave again "Kirito!"

He turned to him this time.

"You look pretty cute, you know that?"

"Yeah, and that unkempt face of yours suits you really well!" Kirito called before turning and taking off

Klein turned and left to go find his friends, leaving Dren alone in the alley. He sighed before rushing off into the fields to train.


	2. Leveling Up

4-Boxing Has Its Perks  
Chapter 2: Leveling Up

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Dren, Hiro, Shiro, Thiro, and Iro

Hiro slashed through an armored knight monster "Switch" he leapt back and Iro dashed forward, his war-hammer already mid-swing. Crashing it into the monster's armor and sending it flying into a tree. Thiro dropped down from the tree and landed on its shoulders before knifing both of its eyes. "Flame Slash" Shiro swung his staff through the air creating a large wave of fire which sliced the knight in half, it shattered into a hundred shards and the group sheathed their weapons, a window popped up telling them how much experience, gold, and items they obtained from the monster.

_In his mind Dren relaxed, "How many of these things have I killed already? Ten, twenty? At this rate I'll be here the whole game until I die from old age, but this is the best place to get experience until I get higher in level… maybe I should join one of those guilds that are springing up… no, I'm a solo player, this is my company."_

While he thought this his characters had sat down on the grass, it was a calm day, as always in Aincrad, they were surrounded by trees, and were sitting in the middle of a forest clearing, a slight breeze rustled the branches and the small plants sending a wave of reflection through the ground.

"_Now what?" _Dren thought as he waited for the monsters to respawn

"Hey!" A voice called angrily to him

Hiro turned his head lazily and saw sixteen players marching toward him.

"Can we help you?" he asked, keeping up the guise that his four characters weren't him but individuals.

"This is our camping spot!" the same one called, a samurai style player by the looks of the katana at his waist.

Hiro remained calm, he'd noticed the orange diamonds that floated above all of their heads.

"_These guys are player killers… I'll have to be careful, I don't want to responsible for their deaths."_

"Alright." Hiro said pushing himself up "Let's move on guys." He signaled to his clones and they nodded, standing as well.

"Wait!" The leader called "You can't just leave."

"Why?"

"Because you haven't paid the tax…"

"Tax?"

"Yes, the tax for using our monster zones."

"I've never heard of such a thing."

"Well you have now, so pay up!" The leader proffered his hand

Hiro sighed as he opened his inventory to dispatch the currency "How much?"

"All of it."

"Can't do that." Hiro replied, slashing the menu to close it.

"And why not?"

"I'm not going to pay you all my money to use a resource meant for everyone."

"Really, is that how it's going to be?"

"I'm afraid so."

"Alright then, boys! Teach him a lesson!" the leader called pointing at Dren's avatars

Hiro drew his broadsword cutting the leader's wrist open, causing the man to howl in pain as he grasped at the open wound.

Thiro drew his daggers before disappearing into the breeze. Shiro twirled his staff "Water Slash" he swung in a wide horizontal slash sending a wave of water at the group of players. They all dodged to the sides of the attack, leaving them open to the devastating power of Iro's hammer, which he slammed into three of them, sending them flying through the air.

The leader, regaining his wits, drew his katana with his non-injured hand and attempting to slash Hiro. He deflected the blade easily, obviously the leader was using his off-hand. He slashed open the man's shirt and glared at him.

"Do you want this to go any further?" he asked

The leader gulped before looking around, his men were all wounded, looking at their health gauges he could see they were all nearly dead.

"No, no. We'll stop."

"Good." Hiro said as he sheathed his blade

Thiro appeared with a knife the leader's throat "And don't think of any funny business."

Shiro twirled his staff before sliding into place on his back, Iro did the same with his hammer.

"Come on." Hiro said signaling the others to leave.

The group turned away from the dark guild, but they sent out a message to the nearest guild member of the Knights of the Blood, a squad leader. He would arrive and arrest these player killers.

It had been a month since Kayaba's announcement, since then two thousand of the ten thousand players had died. Kirito had made a name for himself as the Black Swordsman, a solo player and beater, who charged on the frontlines, clearing floors with the charging guilds. Having cleared three of them by himself. Dren had stayed behind to keep criminal activity to a low, he didn't want any PKers, as they were called, to destroy the hard work of Kirito and the Knights of the Blood, as well as the other guilds that were trying to clear the game.

Dren had been offered many times to join one of these guilds, but he'd declined every time, stating he was a mercenary that hired out for bosses and floor clearing, his prices weren't ridiculous, but it discouraged any PKers from hiring him to try and kill someone. Unknown to him, his squad of avatar's had become known as the Protectors, a group solely based around protecting the weaker from the abusive stronger.

The group had arrived in the nearest town some hours ago. Hiro was resting on the stones around the town fountain while Shiro was buying equipment for them, Iro was buying healing crystals and Thiro was off somewhere, doing something.

Hiro heard the message beep echo through the air and he opened his eyes to see he'd been sent a message from Asuna of the Knights of the Blood. He'd heard of the strange fire haired girl. She'd appeared virtually from nowhere to become Vice-leader of the Knights of the Blood.

He opened the message and read it quickly.

_Dear Protectors,_

_The Knights of the Blood are going to try and break through floor twenty-five today. We've already received word from Kirito the Black Beater, confirming his assistance, as well as Klein, leader of another, smaller guild. We've received word that your price for floor clearing is 20,000, it was sent as an attachment, permission granted by the leader of the Knights of the Blood. We hope to see you on the battlefield._

_ Signed,  
Asuna, Vice-leader of the Knights of the Blood_

"_Damn…" _Dren thought as he received the attachment of 20,000. _"Guess I have to help them now… I would look like a crook to take all this gold without helping…"_

Dren gathered his avatars together before heading for the floor's zone teleport. They activated the console and teleported to floor twenty-five. They looked around to see Knights of the Blood everywhere, their white and red uniform making them easy to spot. As the group finished warping in they received glares from most of the players.

"_Doesn't look like they're too happy to see me." _Dren thought

"Oi! Hiro!" Klein called as he and a small group approached them

"Klein, how are you?" Hiro asked as his group stepped forward to meet them.

"We're doing alright." He said as they clasped hands. "Glad to see you're all still here." He whispered to him

"it's not as hard as you think, at least when you know how to use the skills properly." Hiro whispered back. "Have you seen Kirito?" he asked, loud enough for everyone to hear.

"Over there." Klein said with a grin, pointing at Kirito who was sitting on the fountain with Asuna.

"That's Asuna?" Hiro asked, seeing her immediately

"Yep, the Vice-leader of the Knights of the Blood."

Hiro nodded.

"Players! May I have your attention!" A voice called

The whole crowd turned to a man in red armor with a large white shield on his arm.

"Who's he?" Hiro asked

"Heathcliff, one of the leaders of the Knights." Klein replied

"Looks tough."

"Yeah, word is no one's seen his HP gauge drop to yellow. He's never taken that much damage, even in a floor fight."

"Impressive."

"As you know, you've been called here today to try and clear the twenty-fifth floor, and put us one step closer to clearing the game." Heathcliff continued

The crowd cheered.

"But, we must be careful, we can't rush in blindly. I don't want anyone to die for no reason. We must pool our knowledge on this monster and come up with a plan."

"What we know about it?" Hiro asked

Kirito stepped forward first "The boss we're looking at is a two-headed giant. It has the dual heads giving it enhanced perception, as well as wielding its twin clubs with proficiency."

Heathcliff nodded "Anything else?"

There was silence. "Are there any questions?"

Thiro lifted his hand and called to Kirito "Is its perception high enough to detect stealthing players?"

Kirito shook its head "Neither of them are smart enough. As a giant its intelligence is too low to detect a player who sneaks into the chamber."

Thiro nodded

"Is this an anti-crystal dungeon?" Iro asked next

"That's currently unknown." Heathcliff replied

"What kind of armor is it wearing?" Hiro asked

"As far as we know, none, it's body is so large it has some sort of natural hardness to its skin." Kirito stated

"What about elemental weaknesses?"

"None that we know of, it isn't resistant to elemental attacks either." Kirito said, Heathcliff nodded

"Is that all?" he asked

The crowd remained silent.

"Then let us begin!" Heathcliff shouted before turning on his heel and leading them to the dungeon.

The crowd followed him, grouping with their teams as they went. Dren remained his own team, hoping no one would notice.

"So, what's your plan?" Klein asked

"Don't know, I'll have to see how this thing fights before I start attacking with full power. I don't want to risk losing any of my avatars."

Klein nodded "What do you think the plan might be?"

"What I usually do, Hiro attacks, Shiro supports combat, Thiro sneaks off and gets vital points, and Iro provides support and healing."

Klein nodded again.

"Sounds like you've done this before."

Unknown to anyone on SAO, Dren had been 4-boxing for two years now, using an identical set-up to the one he was using now, in other games he was a legendary figure who had cleared dungeons that would take up to sixty players being fully coordinated by on field soldiers and in-base tacticians.

Dren grinned at the accusation "Maybe…" he replied calmly

"Well, I hope that experience comes in handy today." Klein told him as a final statement before going back to his guild-mates.

The army arrived at the dungeon leading to the floor boss. "This is it!" Heathcliff called

"Prepare yourselves!"

The sound of swords sliding out of sheaths and weapons being drawn echoed through the area as the army readied their weapons.

Heathcliff looked around, trying to spot anyone who wasn't ready, when he didn't see anyone he turned and lifted his hand, opening the door. The army rushed inside with battle-cries and war-shouts. When they were all in the giant chamber the doors closed behind them. They looked around nervously as blue flamed torches lit up around the room, eventually they spotted the huge form of the boss. It lifted its heads slowly, then turned to see the intruders, grabbing its clubs that had been discarded on the floor it stood and roared a challenge at them.

"Attack!" Heathcliff called

The advance teams charged forward, they're aim was to get the monster's attention. Then another set of teams would be deployed to deal damage to the beast while the first wave held its attention, a third wave would be dispatched to trade out the first when they began to tire, hopefully by that point the second wave will have nearly killed the boss.

The first wave darted around it in large circular movements, dodging the giant clubs as the monster swung them haphazardly. Hiro was analyzing the beast's movements. When the second wave was deployed the first wave began to attack the monster to draw its attention, and they continued to deal constant damage to try and draw the beast to them while the second wave, consisting of heavier, slower, more damaging players rushed in and started to take out large chunks of the beast's health gauges.

Hiro turned to his clones and Dren sighed mentally.

"_Looks like this will be a repeat for me." _Dren turned his avatars toward the beast before setting them into action.

Thiro disappeared, sneaking away into the shadows. Shiro rushed forward with Iro and Hiro, "Explosive Slash" Shiro spun his staff in a circle creating a red-outlined ball, he stabbed it in the center and watched it fly, turning into a huge fireball on the way. It crashed into the monster's head and it turned to glare at the attackers. It lifted a club above its head to kill them, but Hiro split from the group while Shiro crouched, Iro stopped and lifted his hammer above his head, blocking the attack, barely. Hiro came back around and lifted his broadsword in a double handed swing, bringing it down with tremendous force, at the last second he activated a sword skill which amplified the strength of his next attack by six, but the skill only lasted three seconds. It swung through the arm of the beast, putting Hiro on the ground on the other side. The arm disappeared into a hundred crystals and the beast screamed in pain as three of its five health gauges disappeared, the other was half gone from the damage dealt by the knights. The attackers stood stock still, stunned by the amount of force displayed by this small group, and the coordination of them. While they were standing there the monster regained its sense, renewing its assault on them, it lifted the club above its head in a deadly overhead blow, but stopped, dropping the club to the ground a hundred foot away from the farthest player. They turned suddenly to see Thiro was standing on the beast's head, he'd used a pair of rapid-stabbing attacks to hit the monster's eyes, blinding it and draining its health gauge to all but the slightest hair of a remainder.

"Finish it!" Heathcliff called to him.

Thiro nodded before producing his daggers and twirling them in his hand, stabbing them into the giant's head.

It disappeared as it shattered into hundreds of shards. Thiro began to fall, but was caught by some of the second wave members. He was set back on his feet and walked over to Heathcliff and Dren's other avatars.

"That was an impressive display." Heathcliff said, loud enough for everyone to hear

They all cheered, these four had defeated the boss almost single-handedly and there had only been two deaths.

"It was nothing." Hiro stated

"Ah, but it was something. It proved to me what I've been thinking about you protectors for a long time."

"And what's that?" Hiro asked, he had a sinking feeling about this.

"That you and your group here, aren't other people, but you're the same person." Heathcliff stated

The army began to whisper amongst themselves, this would explain the groups coordination; a well experienced player who was used to controlling four characters at once could easily do what the protectors had just done.

Hiro sighed "Fine, I'll admit it. I'm a boxer." He said

The army stopped whispering, staring at the group in awe.

Heathcliff nodded. "Well then. Hiro, I want you to join the Knights of the Blood."

"No." Hiro replied immediately "I'm a solo mercenary player."

"Ah, but that won't get you far in this game." Heathcliff told him

"I know this, but It's the way I play." Hiro replied with a shrug "The only reason I showed up today was Asuna's message and the payment that came with it."

The guild turned to the red haired girl. She was standing nearby the group with Kirito.

"If you need me for anything else, don't hesitate to call, if you pay correctly, I'll come running, but for now. I'll return to my area on floor fifteen. Thank you." Hiro said before turning and leaving, his clones falling in step behind him

"Wait!" Heathcliff called after him

Hiro stopped and the group turned to him.

"Even if one of you killed the monster, that means as a group you get a majority of the spoils, at least take that."

Hiro nodded, without looking at him Thiro disappeared, appearing in the middle of the army, selecting the yes button on the monster's window. A sack fell from the sky and landed in his arms, he disappeared with the load, appearing again next to Hiro, he handed it to him and the leader deposited the bag.

"If you'll excuse us." Hiro said, now that business had been settled. He turned the group around, and left the floor, heading back to his green field on floor fifteen.


	3. The Final Battle

4-Boxing Has Its Perks  
Chapter 3: Final Battle

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Dren, Hiro, Shiro, Thiro, and Iro

Two years have passed since the game known as Sword Art Online became world famous as "The Death Game". The players had purchased the game expecting a fantastic VRMMORPG, but instead got a game where you could die. The only way for the players to escape is to clear all one-hundred floors of the game. Since day one the players have been hard at work attempting to find each floor boss and defeat it in order to advance. Now, the players have begun to become complacent, accepting the fact of what their lives might be, and beginning to live in the game as if it were the real world, the advancing forces that continued to push forward into the upper floors have begun to slow, and few remain who are truly determined to finish the game. This has stopped the players at floor seventy-five, after Kirito the Black Swords, and Asuna the White Flash, cleared the boss of floor seventy-four on their own.

Dren was sitting in a park with his avatar's surrounding him. Klein had sent them a message, stating that the Knights of Blood have found the floor boss and are calling all players of exceptional skill to the front-lines. This included the protectors, who were now famous as the only boxed group in all of SAO. Since they'd helped clear floor twenty-five, people have constantly invited them to join groups, guilds, and adventures. Each time Dren had to turn them down because they were requesting him to help, not paying him to, which would go against his mercenary playing style if he picked up every request for help.

Also, when the group had inherited the sack of materials after defeating the twenty-fifth floor boss, courtesy of Thiro killing it, they'd taken them to an appraiser who told them it was a bag of the strongest smith able material in the game. Hiro and the group had eventually found someone who could smith it for them, a girl named Elizabeth, she had used the material to make Kirito's famous off-hand sword, and when the group brought the bag to her, she was ecstatic. She immediately fashioned the weapons and armor each of them wore out of the materials, using every piece of it she could to make the weapons as powerful and fit for each one.

Hiro sighed as he thought about what had happened in the year and six months since he'd single-handedly defeated the twenty-fifth floor boss. He replied to the message, stating he would come to assist them.

"Oi! Hiro!" A voice called to them

Hiro looked up to see a stranger approaching them. The stranger came within speaking distance and bent over, out of breath.

"Who are you?" Hiro asked in a bored tone.

"I'm a member of the Knights of Blood." He said looking up at them and giving the group a better look.

It was true; he was a member of the Knights of Blood, wearing their trademark red and white.

"What do you want?" Hiro asked

"I want to party with you for today's boss fight." The player told him

"Why?" Thiro asked

The player turned his gaze and nodded "That's a good question, I figured since you've been holding down the crime rate in the already cleared floors, and you've become famous as a boxer, not to mention how you handled the twenty-fifth floor boss, I wanted to party up with you at least once."

Hiro sighed "Fine, just be there when the attacking force moves out."

The player nodded sternly, he turned to leave, and about ten feet away leapt into the air and clicked his feet together "Yes!"

Hiro watched him disappear before sighing.

"_That's one more I'll have to watch out for in today's fight."_ Dren thought to himself

A few hours passed before the appointed time. Dren took this time to make sure his group was properly outfitted, they had just had their armor and weapons repaired so they were at full strength, and they had enough personal healing crystals, making sure that Iro had enough group healing crystals. They had gone to one of the higher-level training grounds and had practiced some of their maneuvers before having their armor repaired, now they were waiting for the bell to sound, telling them the attack would commence.

As they waited the Knight who had approached them earlier approached them, he revealed himself to be a sergeant in charge of one of the squads for the second wave, but he had gotten away with joining Dren because his squad had died over the course of the previous floor encounters so that he was the only one left. They partied up and when they were settled the bell rang. Dren's avatars stood up and made their way toward the meeting point.

The plan for this boss was simple, as things had a tendency to go wrong if they made complex plans. It was almost identical to the double-headed giant plan. They would send in one wave to draw the monster's attention, following it would be another wave to attack and deal damage while the first wave distracted it, following them would be a third wave which would switch out the first wave, the first wave would fall back and be healed by a response unit before being sent back in to support the second wave. A fourth wave was on stand-by to assist where needed, but were given free-reign to fight as they decided, this unit consisted of Klein and his Guild, Kirito, Asuna, and Dren's group, as well as Heathcliff.

"So, what's your plan this time?" The knight asked

"Simple. I'll draw attention, Thiro will sneak around, Iro will protect Shiro who deals with the monster's defenses and draws its attention for our group."

A while back they had fought an armored troll as a regular monster, Dren had discovered that Hiro was the only avatar with armor breaking capabilities, he corrected this by getting Shiro to master "Armor Shatter Wave" A wave attack that would crack open opponent's armor like a walnut, including shields. When the group arrived at the meeting point the main force was waiting for them, seventy players had agreed on this raid and were currently gathered around the dungeon containing the floor-boss. Heathcliff made a speech to boost the morale of the troops before they charged in. The army entered the boss room and the doors shut behind them as the last player entered. They looked around, waiting for the boss to appear, when suddenly someone shouted:

"It's on the ceiling!"

The army looked up to see a large centipede-like creature with four glowing red eyes and a skull for a head. Underneath this it had two scythe arms, it descended upon the army and began to dart around, it scythe like legs hacking apart players who got too close. The arms taking care of those that tried to attack it.

"First wave!" Heathcliff shouted and the designated group rushed forward, starting to distract the monster, it seemed though, that these weren't designed to fight this boss, as almost every time a group approached it someone was killed.

"Second wave!" Heathcliff shouted again, and the heavy infantry rushed into the fray

Meanwhile, Hiro had stayed back to watch how this monster fought, this was a completely new style for him, unlike the twin-headed giant which he'd had experience with something similar, this new boss was brand new.

Hiro looked his group over. "Stay back." He told the knight "I'll handle this."

Hiro rushed forward, swinging his broad-sword in experimental arcs before settling on a charge position. Iro and Shiro were right behind him. Thiro had disappeared into the shadows above.

The monster noticed the new wave of attackers and went to charge them. Hiro darted to the left as the monster brought down its scythes in a large X, Iro held his hammer up and blocked the attack.

"Armor Break Wave!" Shiro swung his staff in three rapid attacks cutting the armor off the boss.

Thiro appeared above, falling down, daggers ready. He landed on its spine, forcing the blades in as far as they would go while Hiro used his attack enhance sword skill, allowing him cut through the three remaining health gauges. The monster collapsed before shattering into a billion pieces.

The fighters were exhausted, after they'd recovered a bit Klein asked how many died. Kirito checked and replied with fourteen.

Egil's eyes widened "No way…"

"And we still have twenty-five more floors." Klein said

"Will we even make it?" Egil asked

Kirito was looking around when he noticed Heathcliff standing perfectly still, as if he hadn't even been fighting.

Kirito drew his sword and attacked him, but right before he made contact he was stopped, and a window appeared stating Heathcliff was an immortal object.

Kirito explained to everyone that Heathcliff was none other than Kayaba Akihiko. He confirmed it and told them he was supposed to be the final boss on floor one-hundred, but he gave Kirito an offer, after paralyzing everyone except Kirito he challenged him to a duel to end the game. Kirito accepted.

"Kirito-kun!" Asuna called

"Kirito!" Klein shouted at him

"Don't do it!" Hiro called to him

"Kirito!" Dren cried with the other three avatars

He stopped and looked back at them all. "Asuna… I'm sorry. Egil, thank you for helping the swordsman class, I know how you spent a lot of money to get everyone leveled in the middle areas, Klein, I'm sorry about leaving you on that first day."

"Damn it, don't apologize to me, I won't forgive you until you buy me a meal on the other side!"

"I will, don't worry." Kirito said saluting with his sword

"Hiro, keep going strong, you've shown aptitude at what you do, don't lose sight of your dreams." He told him

Hiro nodded solemnly.

After that was said Kirito and Heathcliff began to duel, during the fight Heathcliff delivered a fatal blow, but Asuna overcame the paralysis and took the attack for Kirito. Kirito, at a loss over Asuna, feebly attempted to attack Heathcliff, but Kayaba sighed and deflected the weak attacks disarming Kirito before stabbing him in the chest.

Kirito's mind flashed back through his time in the game, and to the end right before Asuna died she told him don't give up.

Kirito's will returned as he forced himself to stay alive long enough to kill Heathcliff. As the pair of them shattered the others were logged out an announcement was made that the game had been cleared before the system logged everyone out. In the end, Asuna, Kirito, and Kayaba were watching Aincrad as it collapsed, Kayaba explained his dream of flying up to a steel castle in the sky, and how he supposed it existed somewhere in some other world. Kirito agreed with him before they were logged out in the final moments.

Dren awoke, in a hospital room. He looked around as he readjusted to his eyes. Next to him on a table were four monitors and his three other nerve-gears, the fourth still sitting on his head. He sat up and removed the nerve-gear looking down at it, its surface was scratched and dented, compared to the fresh shine it had when he first bought it. He sighed.

"_it's all over now… what will I do? Virtual Reality games are going to take a hit from this…"_

As Dren considered his next move, the doors opened and a flood of doctors came in, they began to examine him and question him, as well as offer him food and drink.

Dren's mind wandered away, back to Aincrad, where he imagined his four avatars sitting around the fountain in the town of beginnings. Each of them looked him in the eyes, his eyes, his face, looking back at him, like four individual mirrors, each with their own reflection of him.

"_I can't give, especially not after what Kirito told me before he finished the game… No, I'll start over, with bigger and better games. Soon, everyone will know the name Dren Brand!"_

**A/N: This is very odd of me to release two chapters in one day, especially for the same story, but the reason the story of SAO only covers three chapters in this is because it's hard to work with a mage style character in a game where no magic exists, which is why I'm trying to get into the Alfheim arc a little sooner, that will probably be easier to write, it also introduces a whole new set of abilities and weapons for Dren to use.**


	4. Alfheim! Land of the Fairies!

4-Boxing has Its Perks  
Chapter 4: Alfheim! Land of the Fairies!

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Dren, Hiro, Shiro, Thiro, Iro, Kiro, and Jiro

It has been three months since the game Sword Art Online has ended. Since then, most of the players trapped in the "Death Game" have been trying to re-adapt to normal life. Unfortunately a couple hundred players haven't woken up after the game was cleared, one of these was Asuna. While Kirito tried to adapt to normal life again, and find a way to wake Asuna, Dren hadn't tried to rehabilitate to normal life. He'd participated in the physical classes to rebuild his muscle mass as well as their attempts to put his body back to the way it was before the start of the game, but he'd never really left the gaming world. After escaping Sword Art Online he'd returned to non-virtual MMORPG's, but eventually he got bored of these, after fighting for his life these games didn't present enough of a challenge by just clicking the mouse button, so he moved on.

Dren was walking down the street, two nervegears tucked under his arms; in his hands he had a box which contained six copies of the game "Alfheim Online". Dren slammed the door of his room with his foot and sat down at his desk, unloading all of the materials he'd purchased. He reached into his sleeve and produced a screwdriver, as well as a handful of other materials. After rewiring his nerve gears and installing the six copies of Alfheim on his six systems, he put the main helmet on and lay down in his bed.

"Link Start!"

Five image boxes appeared; each checked his sense of touch, smell, taste, sight, and hearing. When they were confirmed to be working and his language was selected his screen flashed white. It faded to reveal he was in a digital room. The room was mainly black, with red lines tracing along the walls and floor, a large screen appeared on one of the walls.

"Welcome to Alfheim." A voice echoed through the room. "Please select your player name and gender."

Six holographic consoles appeared in front of Dren's avatars, he entered their respective names, including two new entries; Kiro and Jiro. Then he selected Male.

"Thank you; now choose your starting race."

In front of each of his avatars appeared a rotating roster of nine playable races.

Hiro was the first to select one, he scrolled through to an armored fairy wearing red.

"Salamander?" The voice asked him

He confirmed this and Hiro disappeared after being converted to the red fairy

Shiro was next. He cycled through until he found a blue race

"Undine?"

He confirmed the choice and was teleported away

Iro chose a Sylph, Thiro chose a Spriggan, Kiro chose an Imp, and Jiro chose a Cait Sith.

The six players were teleported to their respective home towns. From there Dren purchased their equipment and armor before making his way toward a meeting point in neutral territory.

When they arrived no one would probably realize that they were the same player; Hiro was wearing his trademark red plate armor, on his back was a star shaped triple sheath, the center bar a large great sword, flanked by two long swords forming an X. Dual wielding was apparently a common part of this game, it was in exchange for magic so no one actually used, but Dren didn't have a problem with that.

Shiro was wearing a blue robe, a staff in his right hand and a spell book tucked under his left arm.

Iro was wearing green armor identical to Hiro's, but he had a large war hammer slung on his back, a small bracelet with a golden cross dangled from his wrist.

Thiro had on a black form fitting suit of cloth, as well as two daggers on his waist. His face was half covered by a mask.

Kiro was wearing a purple shirt and pants with a small cape and cowl over all of this, underneath the cloak, hidden by a special flap, was a quiver of arrows, a bow was strung across his chest. He had long purple hair that flowed straight down his back.

Jiro was wearing a yellow suit of light chain armor, in his hand was a war spear and on his off arm was a large kite shield. He was wearing a full helm so no one could see his face except for his eyes.

Dren had the characters sit down as he thought about his next plan of action. They were sitting calmly around a small forest clearing, a slight breeze wafted through the trees, rustling branches and causing small animal life to scurry away when they detected the scent of the group of players.

"Something's coming!" Jiro said suddenly lurching up out of his sitting position.

Just above the tree line a dark shape burst past them, it was moving fast.

"Damn." Hiro said drawing his long swords.

The rest of the group readied themselves; Kiro put an arrow on the string and waited. After a minute he sensed, more than saw, the shape coming back. When it was in range, he calculated distances and released an arrow that flew straight into the darting beast's wing throwing it off balance and causing it to crash through the nearby trees.

"Nice shot." The group said at once

Dren was surprised with his accuracy; normally he only used spells, which normally had a lock on system so they never missed unless the opponent has incredible reflexes or a special ability. He'd never seen the point in a ranger until he couldn't find in SAO and thought of all the moments he could've used one.

He moved the group through the trees, trying to find where the beast had landed. They suddenly came upon a straight line of a clearing, the rough ground was covered in trees and broken limbs that had fallen when the beast had crashed into them. Hiro looked down the path and saw a flicker of movement.

"Jiro!" He shouted leaping back

The small, yellow clad figure rushed forward and held up his kite shield just in time to block a charge from the beast, it had been hiding in the nearby trees. The force of blow threw Jiro back, but Iro caught him as Shiro began to chant a spell Hiro charged the monster, which they could now tell was a yellow drake, Hiro lifted the swords above his head in a double overhead blow, aiming for its neck, then a thought hit Dren.

He moved Hiro's strike to land near the section of the drake's uninjured wing. From there he leapt back and let Shiro's spell take effect, it wasn't a complex spell, it was designed to root the drake's feet to the ground to prevent it from moving. As the spell took effect the drake's feet turned gray.

"Now!" Hiro shouted.

Jiro charged through the group and leapt up onto the beast's back. He grabbed the horns on its head as it tried to buck him off unsuccessfully, without its feet it wasn't going anywhere. Suddenly the beast lurched into the air.

"Shiro what happened?" Hiro asked

"The spell has an eight second timer." Shiro muttered to himself

Jiro continued to hold on for his life as the beast continued to try and throw him off. It tried flipping, spinning, diving, and bucking, but nothing seemed to shake its small rider. Eventually, the drake began to tire and Jiro fixed his position so he was mounted just forward of the two wing membranes. His hands began to glow yellow as he gripped the horns tightly. The drake tried one last attempt to shake him, but it was futile, and soon after Jiro had tamed the drake. He released the horns and put his hands on the drake's scaly back between himself and its head.

The rest of the group was seated on the ground of the first clearing, after Jiro had been flown away Dren had left them there while he focused on maintaining his grip on the drake. Now that he'd captured it he flew it toward his five other characters. Alighting in the clearing he dusted off the drake lightly and dropped to the ground when it settled.

Iro moved to heal its wounds while Dren congratulated himself on a job well done. After the drake's wing and back had been healed and Kiro's arrow had been retrieved the group sat down, the drake curling up and laying down on its belly.

"_What do I do now?" Dren asked himself_

A branch snapped in the nearby trees

"What was that?" Hiro asked sitting up

A voice gasped slightly at the sudden sound of voice.

"Who's there!" Hiro shouted standing now, the rest of the group stood, including the newly tamed drake.

"Wait! Don't shoot! Please." A small figure emerged from the trees and the group saw it was young sylph.

"Who are you?" Hiro asked

"I-I'm Recon." The young sylph said

"Re-con?" Hiro asked, memorizing the name. "Alright Recon, what are you doing here sneaking up on us?"

"I saw your battle with the drake just now, you're new, but you're really strong. Perhaps you can help me?" He asked

"What do you need help with? I don't do tutorials." Hiro told him

"No no, nothing like that." Recon told him holding up his hands defensively

"I need help breaking into a salamander army camp, and you look like the guys to help me do it."

Hiro thought about it for a moment. "Alright, we'll help-"

"Yes!" Recon shouted, interrupting him. Hiro coughed. "Sorry"

"As I was saying, we'll help, but it'll cost you." Hiro said

"How much?" Recon asked, suddenly wary of this idea.

"We'll discuss that when we see this camp, but I'm gonna give you a fair estimate: 50,000"

"Fif-fif-fif-fif-fifty thousand!" Recon shouted.

"Yes, think about it. You've got six strong players who work well together as a team, we could probably take on the world tree with this group. Taking that into consideration and that you're my first client."

"Client?" Recon asked.

"Oh yes, I'm a mercenary my friend, as are my friends here." Hiro said stepping toward Recon and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Well… I guess that makes sense. Alright, fifty-thousand if that's what you decide." Recon told him.

"Good boy." Hiro said, catching the fact he hadn't confirmed the price. He slapped him on the back and marched back over to the others.

"Alright gents, let's get moving." Hiro turned to Recon, "Where's this military camp?"

Recon nodded and turned, pointing directly behind him. "That way, about three miles, I only just found out about it, but it's way too close to Sylph territory."

Hiro nodded "Want to come with?" He asked.

"Uh… um… I… uh."

"I believe that's a no." Hiro said.

"No." Recon agreed.

"Alright." Hiro turned and walked past Recon. The rest of the group followed him, including Jiro, who mounted his drake.

The group made their way through the forest until they came out on top of a large cliff face, down below was a large green plain, a straight stretch of uninterrupted land, except for the large cluster of cloth tents that marked the Salamander camp.

"So… that's them." Hiro said to himself.

The group surveyed the camp from their position, not finding anything worth looking at from this distance they decided to close the gap. Jiro's drake flew each of them down until they were all standing at the bottom of the cliff face.

The group proceeded slowly, making their way through what they found to be tall grass, very carefully. They stopped half a mile out from the camp.

"_Alright, this looks like a straight blow-through op." _ Dren thought _"Thiro will slink into the grass and neutralize any sentries they may have posted, following him will be an assault by Hiro and Jiro, supporting from a distance will be Kiro, who will move up once a foothold has been made, he'll be protected by Iro and Shiro… Yeah, that'll work."_

As soon as the plan was processed Thiro slunk away into the tall grass, disappearing almost instantly. The rest of the group waited until Thiro gave them an all clear, which came to them in the form of the screaming men when they started to get slaughtered.

"Time to go!" Hiro shouted as he drew his great sword, hefting it above his head "Charge!"

The group lurched forward, Hiro and Jiro out pacing the others, about thirty paces from the camp Kiro stopped, Iro rested his hammer in both hands and crouched slightly, waiting. Shiro was standing, looking around, his book tucked under his arm and his staff out.

"Shiro." Kiro told the wizard

"Yes?"

"Use your magic, see if you can detect any enemies in the camp that are nearby." Kiro was unslinging his bow and fitting an arrow to the string as he said this.

Shiro nodded before shifting through the spell book. "Got it." He said before closing the book, he let his staff drop and put the book on the ground next to it. He put his hands on the ground and began to chant a strange tongue, when he finished a blue wave stretched over the ground and to Kiro's eyes a whole city of burning red flames appeared, with three green flames in the midst of them, snuffing them out it seemed.

"The green is the others?" he asked.

"Yes."

"Understood." Kiro said lifting his bow, drawing, and sighting immediately, releasing an arrow the arced through the air cut off a charging Salamander. Hiro turned to see the man turn into a small red flame.

"Seems this will work out after all." He said to himself before he was engaged by a Salamander using a large great sword and wearing plenty of armor. Hiro pushed him off only for him to be trampled by Jiro's drake. Jiro had leapt off its back and skewered one of the soldiers with his spear early in the fight, since then he'd been fighting near the drake, keeping it safe where he could.

Thiro had disappeared during the fighting, but oddly enough some of the outer ring of Salamanders occasionally dropped and disappeared into a red fire.

"Kiro! Move up! You're not doing us any good back there!" Hiro shouted over the clamor.

Kiro charged forward at hearing Hiro's voice, Iro and Shiro following him. As they reached the camp Iro charged forward, smashing the outer ring with his hammer.

Shiro looked up a few quick spells and shut his book before putting it and his staff down, putting his hands on the ground again, chanting in the weird language he caused a large explosion to erupt from nearby one Salamander which caught another ten in the blast, killing them all. When the Salamanders near them saw the new pair in blue and purple they charged, Kiro shot them down, but more were coming, and they were constantly closing the gap.

"Little help Shiro!" Kiro shouted

As he finished another phrased a blue, transparent sphere appeared around them.

"What is this?" Kiro asked, holding his new arrow.

"Keep shooting!" Shiro shouted at him, "I have to concentrate to maintain this spell, and the more those brutes attack the harder it gets to maintain!"

Kiro didn't reply, but released his arrow into the vision slit of the nearest Salamander warrior, before resuming his relentless barrage of arrows on the advancing warriors.

Hiro noticed now that the forces of the camp were beginning to be depleted, instead of them appearing to take the place of their fallen comrade, some of the Salamanders had even turned tail and ran, dropping their weapons as they went.

"We're routing them boys! Keep it up!" Hiro called and his group cheered before giving one final push.

They cleared out of the rest of the camp with ease, after they'd finished off the main force, the four warriors fell upon the rear of the group that was waiting to attack Kiro and Shiro. They obliterated the small army and when they were all gone, looted the camp, Hiro took all of the equipment and gold and put it on Jiro's dragon. After the fight Recon and appeared, telling them he'd been watching from the air and that he was amazed at the skill of the group, telling them he'd spread word of them quickly. Recon counted out 50,000 and handed it to Hiro who nodded. He led his group away, but left Jiro to be directed by Recon back to the Sylph capital, where they would give them the money and weapons looted from the Salamander camp.

After all of this was settled, and Jiro was back with the group, they entered the inn of a nearby neutral town and rested there for the night.


	5. Updates?

4-Boxing Has Its Perks  
Chapter 5: Updates?

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Dren, Hiro, Shiro, Thiro, Iro, Kiro, and Jiro

Dren logged his characters into Alfheim. It was a sunny day as always, and the forest outside the Sylph capital rustled in the breeze. The local Sylphs were going about their routine business, Dren's avatars were currently napping against the fountain in the middle of the Sylph capital. Dren was looking through Hiro's friends list when something caught his eye. A single name that struck a chord in his memory.

"_No way."_ Dren thought to himself as he clicked the name.

Kirito was alit and was currently located in the Sylvan capital.

Hiro and the others awoke immediately and took off, leaping from the fountain and startling a few passerby. They rushed toward the inn that Kirito was supposedly staying in. They burst open the door and looked around to see a head of black hair amidst all the green.

"Kirito…" Hiro said to himself softly.

Kirito and the rest of the bar had turned to see who had burst in. His eyes widened when his eyes alighted on Hiro.

"Hiro?" he asked aloud.

He nodded.

Kirito's face slowly spread into a grin.

"Kirito, who are these guys?" A voice asked from the other side of his table.

Hiro noticed a young Sylph girl was sitting across from Kirito. She was wearing a green cape with white leggings and brown shoes with a white blouse. Her long blond hair was tied in a braid down her back and she had large green eyes.

"Leafa, these are my friends from another game." Kirito said, beckoning the others to join them.

Dren's six avatars walked into the bar, closing the door gently behind them and sitting next to Kirito.

"What are you doing here?" Hiro asked when the bar had returned to normal.

"That's what I was going to ask you." Kirito told him.

"I came here because I missed the days of S.A.O" Hiro said, glancing at Leafa.

Kirito shook his head as a discreet signal. "I'm here because of a rumor that another friend is trapped in this game."

"What?" The whole group looked at him in surprise.

"Not here." Kirito said, leading the way out of the bar and up the street. Leafa following behind them.

"Asuna's been in a coma ever since S.A.O was beaten." Kirito told him.

"Yeah, I'd heard, and you think she's here? How?"

"I don't know, but Egil showed me a picture in the real world that some players had taken. At the top of the World Tree there was a bird cage with a girl who looks just like Asuna in it."

"So you think her mind got trapped here when S.A.O collapsed?" Hiro asked.

Kirito nodded. "So I came here to save her."

Hiro grinned. "Consider me at your service." He winked at him as Leafa approached them.

Leafa looked at them angrily as they grinned at her. "What were you two talking about?" She asked.

"Nothing important." Kirito said to her immediately.

She gave him a questioning look before giving up and turning on her heels. "Well, it's getting late. I should be logging off." She swiped her left hand through the air and hit the log out button.

She disappeared a moment later leaving Kirito and Dren's six avatar's alone in the street.

"So, what's the plan?" Hiro asked.

"I can't just leave Leafa out of this." Kirito told him, "She helped me get started here in Alfheim…"

"Well, then I guess we wait until she logs back on. I suppose that means I'll be going then."

"What's your plan?" Kirito asked.

"I've got a few contracts that have some hefty rewards. If we're going to assault the world tree then I want to be at my best."

Kirito nodded as Hiro and the others made their toward the city limits, lifting their hands in farewell. Kirito swiped his hand through the air and logged himself out.

Dren had his avatars split up to contact each of his contracts and grabbed the biggest rewards he could find. He then regrouped and had his avatars complete each objective, the clients received their contracted goal and Dren received his rewards. He purchased a set of weapons for each of his avatars. Kiro received a longbow and a set of armor, while Jiro purchased armor for his drake and a new suit of equipment. Hiro and Iro received new plate armor while Hiro purchased a new set of broadswords that outmatched his longswords, as well as a greatsword to replace the broadsword he used to carry. Thiro received a set of throwing knives as well as a new set of armor and a pair of new knives. Shiro received new armor a staff that would cast a barrier when placed in the ground, and a spell-book full of spells from every race that Shiro could cast.

"I think that's everything." Hiro said, looking over his group. They were outfitted and looked ready for war.

"_I better get some sleep, it's late and I'm gonna need rest if we're gonna assault the World Tree tomorrow."_

Dren logged his characters out and removed the helmet from his head, setting it aside and changing into his pajamas. He threw himself back onto his bed and looked at the computer screens as each blinked off.

"Tomorrow's a big day… we finish what we started in S.A.O, and this time I won't be so useless." Dren turned to stare at his ceiling and lifted his hand up, staring at his palm before balling it into a fist.

_**The Next Day**_

Dren logged his avatars in and appeared in the inn he's logged out from last night. Kirito was already waiting for him at the exit from the Sylph capital. Leafa was there with him.

"Are you ready Hiro?" Kirito asked.

"Yeah…" he said, punching his fist into his palm.

"I see your friends look different from before." Leafa said, "Their equipment is amazing…"

Hiro nodded his head. "I stayed up all night to collect all my higher-level contracts and purchased this equipment for everyone."

Kirito smiled "That's just like you."

Hiro put on a stern face. "I'm ready for you to start Kirito."

Kirito turned and led them out of the city. The eight of them traveled through the air for fifteen minutes before landing on the ground to travel through a cave. The tunnel was dark at first, but as they came out toward the end they found a city lit in the middle of a subterranean lake.

"That's gonna be our first checkpoint. We'll stop and grab lunch there." Kirito told them.

They made their way down to the city and arrived at the bridge connecting the cave to the walls. On the bridge stood a group of men and women wearing red robes that hid their faces.

"Who are they?" Leafa asked.

"I don't know…" Hiro said, staring at the group before them.

Suddenly huge bursts of fire erupted from each of the strangers and fireballs flew into the air toward the group.

Shiro rushed forward and slammed his staff-butt into the ground creating a blue energy barrier that stopped the magic fireballs.

The barrier went down and Hiro drew his Great-sword, pointing it at the group ahead of them.

"Charge!"

He, Iro, and Kirito rushed forward with Jiro and Thiro behind them.

Kiro lifted his bow up and fired a set of three arrows at the strangers.

Leafa and Shiro each began to chant as spell-words circled around them.

The strangers drew short-swords from underneath their robes and charged forward to meet the front group. Hiro clashed blades with one of the men, his short-sword barely holding against Hiro's double-grip Great-sword. He pushed and sent the man off balance before swinging his own sword down his middle, dispatching the man who howled in pain. Iro rushed past Hiro and swung his war-hammer down crushing the sword out of a woman's hand. She tried to cast a spell, but Iro came around with an off-balance one-handed swing that sent her flying over the edge of the bridge into the water below.

Kirito caught two of their blades on his sword. He leapt up with a spiral dispatching two them. Jiro stopped in front of Kirito and caught a sword slash on his shield before stabbing at the attacker with his spear. The man disappeared and a small flame took his place. Thiro ran past them all and slit two of the attacker's throats with his daggers killing them. The whole group felt rejuvenated and they turned to see Leafa give them a thumbs up.

"Watch out!" She shouted.

They turned to see three attackers were right behind them.

Two arrows and a Fireball whistled past them and hit the attackers in the heads, sending them down to the ground.

One opponent remained. Hiro lifted his sword, ready to charge.

"Wait." Kirito said, approaching the man.

"Who are you? And why are you here?"

The man remained silent. "Tell me, or I'll kill you."

"Go ahead! That was our mission anyway!" The man told him.

Hiro stepped forward and recognized the man as a Salamander wizard.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on." He said.

"Sir, I cannot. My orders."

Hiro sighed before putting away his great-sword and grabbing the man by the collar of his robes. He lifted him up and held him over the edge of the bridge where a large fish jumped out of the water and missed the wizard by a few feet.

"Ok! Ok-ok-ok-ok!" He shouted.

Hiro pulled him back onto the bridge as the fish took a second chance. He threw him onto the rough-hewn stone and the man sighed in relief.

"The Salamander's army is going to attack the peace-agreement between the Cait Sith and the Sylphs at 3 O'clock."

"What?" Kirito asked.

"That's what I was told. We were ordered to come to this town to stop a Spriggan and his group to keep them from interfering."

"Come on, it's already 2:45. We don't have much time." Hiro told him.

Kirito nodded at him before turning on his heel and rushing out of the cave, grabbing Leafa as he passed. They burst out into the sunlight and flew off. Hiro's group was trailing behind, their speed wasn't as good as Kirito's and it took some time for them to catch up.

The group arrived at the Cait Sith and Sylph meeting at 2:55.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Sylph leader asked, seeing them all drop down in front of her.

"Ma'am, this is going to sound crazy, but an army of Salamanders is coming to attack you here." Kirito told her.

"Who are you?" She asked.

"My name is Kirito."

"Kirito, how do I know I can trust you?"

"I can vouch for him." Iro and Leafa said together.

She looked at the two of them. "And you are?"

"Iro, healer to the Defenders Ma'am."

"Leafa, I'm a regular player."

She looked from them to Kirito.

"Well, I say he looks trust-worthy." The Cait Sith leader added, "And I assume you trust him as well Jiro?" She looked at him as she asked.

"Yes. I do."

"So, what was it you were saying?" The Sylph leader asked.

"We've received a report that an army of Salamanders are coming to attack you. We flew here as fast as we could to make sure you weren't injured." Kirito explained.

"Ma'am, look!" One of the Sylph guards said.

They looked up and saw a large cloud of red-clad figures approaching them.

"You were right it seems." The Sylph leader said to Kirito.

"You have to get out of here." Leafa said to her.

"I will do no such thing. If I run away and leave the Sylphs to defend for themselves what kind of leader does that make me?"

Leafa looked at her as she drew her sword. "Ready yourselves to fight."

"Yes ma'am." The Sylph guards shouted.

They all spouted their wings and flew up to engage the Salamander forces. Hiro grabbed the handles of his two broad-swords and slashed through a Salamader in one clean blow. Shiro floated back a few feet chanting with his eyes closed, his spellbook displaying the words as he said them. He opened his eyes and they flashed a bright orange as a large column of fire erupted from beneath the Salamander forces, frying a large portion of their center line. Iro caught a sword strike on his hammer before twisting it violently and sending the weapon spinning toward the ground. He adjusted his grip and brought the hammer up in a huge under-hand blow that sent the Salamander spiraling through the air. Thiro dashed past two of the Salamander's and stabbed them with his daggers before twirling to avoid an overhead slash and slit the player's throat with a quick motion.

Kiro fired arrow after arrow into the slits between the Salamander armor. Jiro was riding his drake around over the battle-field, having it release blasts of fire that struck down anyone that got too close. Kirito swung his huge broad-sword through a Salamander when he noticed one of them staying back.

"He must be their leader. I'm going after him." Kirito told Hiro.

"Go, we'll cover you." Hiro said, as he disengaged from a Salamander who he'd been crossing blades with.

Kirito turned and rushed forward, passing a majority of the Salamander forces in an amazing display of speed. The leader noticed his approach and readied his great-sword. He caught Kirito's attack lazily on his blade and stared at him.

"So, you're the Spriggan who's been a recent thorn in our side." The man said, "What's your name?"

"I'm Kirito."

"Kirito… I am Eugene, leader of the Salamander Armed Forces."

"Eugene… He's supposed to be the most powerful playing in Alfheim. No one's ever been able to defeat him." Leafa said.

Hiro looked at her in surprise before returning his gaze to Kirito.

"I have a feeling that record is about to be broken."

Eugene pulled his sword away and glared at Kirito. Kirito flew back a few feet and gripped his sword with both hands, holding it out in front of him. Eugene dashed forward and slashed at Kirito who barely blocked the attack. From there it was a trade of blows as the two of them fought. Kirito continued to push as hard as he could, but he realized something half-way through the fight. He dashed down toward Leafa and borrowed her katana. Using his dual-wielding skills from SAO he easily defeated Eugene. After everyone witnessed the outcome of the battle, the Sylph leader revived Eugene.

"That was an incredible match." He said to Kirito.

He nodded, "I'm gonna ask to you to leave."

"So you beat me, does that make you think you can order me around?" Eugene asked.

"Actually he's an ambassador between the Undines and the Spriggans." One of the soldiers said.

"Wh-what?" Eugene looked back at the man in surprise.

"That's what I've heard anyway."

"That's the truth." Shiro said, stepping forward. "I've been on missions with Kirito as an ambassador multiple times."

Eugene looked at Shiro, staring him down to see if he was lying. Shiro didn't waver and eventually Eugene nodded.

"Alright. Men, move out. We're retreating."

The Salamanders lifted off and made their way home.

"Thank you for saving us Kirito." The Sylph leader told him.

"It was no trouble." He said with a smile, rubbing the back of his head.

"If you ever have any need of something in Sylph territory. Let me know…" She said, pushing up against him.

"That's cheating!" The Cait Sith leader called. "You're trying to win him over by seducing him."

"I'm just using what I have."

Hiro sighed before grabbing Kirito and pulling him away.

"Let's get back to the World Tree." He said.

"Wait, you plan on taking on the World Tree?" The Sylph leader asked.

"Yes." Kirito answered as Hiro let go.

"That's going to be difficult with only the eight of you."

"We'll manage ma'am." Iro said.

"If you give us some time. Both of our people can be ready to assist you take on the World Tree."

"How much time do you need?" Thiro asked.

"Well, probably a few months. To save up money and gather everyone together." The Cait Sith leader answered.

Kirito sighed, "We don't have a few months."

He opened his inventory and summoned a large bag. He tossed it to the Cait Sith leader who stumbled under its weight.

"Hopefully that will help speed things up." Kirito said before he spread his wings and flew off.

Hiro and the others flew off after him. Meanwhile, the two leaders were gaping at the millions of coins Kirito had given them.


	6. Final Boss

4-Boxing Has Its Perks  
Chapter 6: Final Boss

Disclaimer: I do not own Sword Art Online or any of the characters involved except Hiro, Iro, Thiro, Shiro, Kiro, Jiro, and Dren

Dren and his avatars followed Kirito and Leafa until they arrived at the city that was built at the base of the world tree. They approached the fabled dungeon cautiously, suddenly Yui appeared from inside Kirito's jacket pocket and looked up.

"I can feel mama." She said.

Leafa gave Kirito a weird look but he looked up at the top of the tree, determined. He took off suddenly, shaking the nearby buildings. He continued to fly until he hit the altitude wall. He fell toward the ground and almost crashed if Leafa hadn't grabbed him. As they floated to the ground a small card fell from the sky. Yui examined it and said it was from Asuna. Seeing no other way to get to her, Kirito led the group to the base of the world tree. When they arrived at the foot of the tree they were greeted by two stone giants that stepped off their pedestals and crossed their swords in front of the door.

"Are you here to take on the challenge of challenges and prove your might as the greatest heroes this land has ever seen?" One guard asked.

"We are!" Kirito shouted as the figure.

"Very well then, you may pass." The second guard said.

The pair of the stepped back onto their pedestals and a quest acceptance window appeared before Kirito's group. They all accepted and the doors opened in front of them. They walked in and found themselves in a large, tunnel like room. They looked to the ceiling and immediately noticed large spheres forming from the walls. As each reached double the size of any of the party members they broke open revealing a large insect like figure. Soon an army of these had appeared and glared down at the party.

"Let's finish this." Hiro said before spreading his wings and taking off.

His other avatars released a battle-cry that shook the building's walls as they followed him into battle. Kirito looked to Leafa and she nodded, he then took off flying straight into the air after Dren's avatars. Hiro already had his swords crossed with one of the guards. Kiro was releasing a barrage of arrows at each of the guards as the attempted to attack him, if they did get too close Jiro and his drake beat them back with his shield and spear, and the drake's claws. Iro dodged one of the guards attacks before smashing his side in with his warhammer. Thiro darted between the guards, dodging each of their attacks as if he'd already seen them happen, slicing their sides, necks, and any other vital area his daggers could reach. Shiro lifted his hands above his head and formed a large fireball that he threw at his opponents, smashing them into the wall and torching their bodies, but it seemed for every guard they defeated another five appeared to take its place, and even then more were still coming.

"There endless." Hiro said as he was pushed next to Kirito by the charge from one of the guards.

Kirito performed a riposite, seeming to surprise the guard with the great speed he wielded his large great-sword. The guard flew into one of its allies before shattering into crystal pieces. Shiro held his hands out and a large wave flew through the room, dealing damage to all of the guards it touched and healing his allies. Leafa was still on the bottom of the tunnel casting healing spells to keep Kirito alive. Dren had his avatars reform around Kirito and let him lead the charge as they tried to break through the line of guards that had formed around the top of the room.

"That must be where the goal is." Hiro said as he broke off and slashed through a cluster of guards.

Iro followed him and smashed one guardian's head sending him spiraling toward the floor. Kiro and Jiro had fallen back and were now down with Leafa who had flown up to meet them half way. Thiro dodged a guardian's attack before catching its blade with his daggers and throwing it out of its hands, he proceeded to stab it in a flurry of movement. Shiro cast another meteor sized fireball and destroyed half the opposing forces only for them to replaced almost instantly. Kirito continued to slash through the enemy and fly toward the ceiling when he received a wound to his shoulder, this threw him off momentarily before he continued on course, only to receive another wound to the side, then another wound to his back, and his chest, then his whole body was instantly covered in slashes, he watched his health bar drop to 0 and saw his screen turn gray as his body fell to the floor. Hiro watched his friend's body drop and called a retreat to his avatars, Leafa flew up and grabbed Kirito's body as it turned to a black flame. They retreated out of the room and watched the guards return to the walls.

Outside Leafa performed a resurrection spell on Kirito who looked around the group.

"We need to go back." He said, "I have a new plan."

"No Kirito." Hiro said, "You can't take it on like this, even with us."

He looked at the ground and his looked turned into a glare as he considered what Hiro said.

"But I have to save Asuna."

"Asuna?" Leafa asked.

Kirito looked up at her, "Do you know her?"

"My brother talks about a girl named Asuna all the time, she's been stuck in the hospital ever since the SAO incident ended."

Kirito's eyes widened as he realized who Leafa was, Leafa's eyes widened as she realized who Kirito was. She immediately opened her menu and logged out. Kirito was right behind her leaving Dren's avatars staring at the spots they'd been sitting, confused.

Kirito and his cousin talked in the real world and Kirito filled her in on what had happened to Asuna. They agreed to help each other and returned to the game where they found Recon waiting with Hiro's group. They opened the doors to assault the tree one more time.

The group bravely fought its way through the guardians, but again their numbers seemed to overwhelm them, Recon used a black magic spell "Self-Destruct" to try and destroy the enemy, and he did destroy a large portion, but not enough to make a difference. When all seemed lost the join Cait Sith-Sylph forces arrived and helped Kirito punch a way through to the ceiling where he found no player could access the system. Using a card he'd received from Asuna he opened the door and found Asuna and her captor, using the card Kirito used the system to defeat Asuna's kidnapper and free her. After defeating the strange man Kirito saw an image of Kayaba Akihiko appear. He gifted Kirito with an item known simply as: "The Seed". Kirito accepted the item cautiously and logged out to go to Asuna. He was attacked by Asuna's kidnapper in the hospital parking lot, Kirito stopped him and left for Asuna's room. There he found the red-haired girl waiting for him, looking out the window at the night sky. She looked at the door and smiled, tears flowing down her face as Kirito embraced her. Two weeks later she and Kirito were attending the school for players trapped in SAO. Dren was across the field, sitting by himself a grain his mouth and his eyes closed.

The two talked about their lives and their futures, Dren listened quietly and smiled to himself. Pleased with what he'd done to help. That afternoon all of the players Kirito knew from SAO and his cousin had a party to celebrate Asuna's recovery. Dren was sitting at a table with Klein and they laughed as the picked up bits of conversation from two girls at the opposite table. One of them Dren recognized as Lizbeth. That night, Kirito used The Seed, which he had found out could be used to create any virtual world. He posted the code on the internet so everyone could use it, virtual reality games began appearing everywhere. All interlinked so the characters could play in any game. In the newly re-created Alfheim Kirito, and the others flew toward the night sky, where Kirito showed them the re-created castle Aincrad. Everyone gaped at it in amazement. Kirito grabbed Leafa's hand and smiled.

"Let's try it again, this time we'll beat it."

They watched as the others flew toward the castle, they noticed Dren was leading the charge with Hiro. The last person to pass them was an undine woman with light blue hair. She held her hand out to Kirito and Yui appeared, grabbing onto the woman's arm and shouting "Mama!"

Kirito smiled and grabbed Asuna's hand, she led him and Leafa up into the sky, fading away amongst the stars.


End file.
